


I found her, but now she is gone.

by islabbe



Series: Tumblr prompts [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: 5x01 spoilers, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Season/Series 05, Sort Of, Tumblr Prompt, alternate story for 5x01, this is very becho heavy but it's a bellarke fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-16 21:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14819171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/islabbe/pseuds/islabbe
Summary: “Two hundred and eighty-three lives for one?  She must be pretty important to you,” the leader of Eligius spoke.  Bellamy resisted the urge to scoff at her.  Important didn’t even begin to cover it.--Tumblr prompt: Echo finds out Clarke is alive first and has to tell Bellamy... then we get to see Bellamy’s thought process AND (if you’re up for it) giving us that lil bellarke reunion??





	I found her, but now she is gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! Hello! I have returned from the depths of hell, also known as second year exams. 
> 
> I've decided to start writing my prompts as a series because I realised how utterly annoying it is to find a fic when it's in a prompt fic. Anyway, here we are.
> 
> Pre warning: this fic is very becho heavy, but it is still a bellarke fic. So if that's not your jam then feel free to not read this haha! 
> 
> Title of this fic is from Keaton Henson's _Lying To You_ which to me, is a very s5 becho song?
> 
> As always, this work is un-beta'd, I apologise for any spelling/grammar errors <3
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

“Here we go again,” Clarke said more to herself than anyone else.  She’d moved the radio away from the rover to allow Madi to get some more sleep.  Clarke pulled the microphone closer to her face and tried a new angle on the antenna.  After nearly two thousand and two hundred days of trying, it seemed pointless but this was her routine now, and Clarke had always liked following a routine if she could.

“Bellamy, if you can hear me, if you’re alive, it’s been two thousand one hundred and ninety-nine days since praimfaya…”

 

* * *

 

 

Bellamy frowned as he looked out of the window of the ring.  When they’d first noticed the green patch after two years up in space they’d been hopeful that it was a sign the Earth was recovering from the radiation of praimfaya.  Almost four years later, and it hadn’t expanded or changed from what Bellamy could see.  Still, if it could be seen from up here, it was more than enough land for just over one thousand two hundred people.

“Soup’s ready,” Monty called as he carried the pot across the room.  Bellamy suppressed a shudder as he walked away from the window and towards the table.  Monty started pouring out bowls of algae soup as Raven, Harper, and Emori joined Bellamy.  They each grimaced as he placed the bowls in front of them.  Six years in space and the algae still didn’t taste any better, though at least now they could keep it down.

“Where’s Echo?”  Bellamy asked as Monty filled the last bowl.

“I trained her on coms,” Raven replied as she frowned down at her bowl of green goop.  “To give Emori a break.”

Bellamy nodded, Emori had been working on coms for as long as they’d had them set up and she often forgot to take a break.

“I’ll go get her,” Bellamy said as he stood up.

***

“Anyway,” came the voice on the radio, crackling and fragmented as the signal made its way through the radiation.  Still, Echo knew whose voice it was.  She’d known as soon as she heard it, _Clarke_.  She was alive, and on the ground.

“I still have hope,” she said before Echo cut the sound off quickly.  She was alive, and they left her on the ground.  They’d left Clarke down there and she’d been alone for six years.  Echo’s thoughts were racing with possibilities, she felt sick. 

Echo was frozen in her seat.   When she’d offered to help with coms, she thought she might be receiving messages from the bunker, not from Clarke six years after they’d left her on the ground to die in a radiation-soaked planet.  Echo felt like she might be sick, the others were going to go crazy, Bellamy-

She stopped at the thought of Bellamy, how would he react?  She had to tell him.

“Echo?”  Her thoughts were cut short when she heard Bellamy’s voice down the metallic corridor of the ring.

“Hey,” he said as he came to stand next to her.  He smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze.  She gave him a small smile back and hastily took the headset off her head.  She opened her mouth to say something but he was already turning away.  Her skin felt warm where his hand had been and she cleared her throat, trying to force herself to tell him, but she couldn’t find the words or even the place to begin to tell him.

“Dinner’s ready,” was all he said as he walked back down the corridor he’d come from.  Echo stood up and steeled herself, Bellamy deserved to know.

“Bellamy,” she called as she stepped around the radio control panel.  He turned back to face her with a questioning look on his face. 

“Yeah?”  He asked, worry crossing his face briefly.

All her courage left her and Echo couldn’t find the words, or when she did she couldn’t force them out of her.

“Nothing,” she said instead, with a small smile.  She’d tell him, she told herself.  But for now, algae soup was waiting. 

***

Echo was quiet through dinner, Bellamy noticed.  Well, more quiet than usual.  She didn’t even laugh when Emori made a snide comment about Murphy.  Bellamy didn’t question it, he knew more than anyone that being on the ring could take its toll some days.  Whatever she was mulling over, she’d tell him later. 

His relationship with Echo was one that he’d never have expected to thrive in space.  Six years ago, he wouldn’t have cared if she’d have walked out into the radiation wave.  Now, well, things were different.

It was difficult to define exactly what Echo meant to Bellamy, it had taken three years in the confines of space for him to even talk to her in a civil manner.  When they were finally talking to one another, they realised they weren’t _so_ different.  They both cared deeply about their peoples and about their friends, thought admittedly they went about protecting people in very different ways. 

In the past few years they’d grown closer, it started with Echo teaching the other six to fight, and then for Bellamy teaching Echo and Emori to read.  They shared history and stories of their families and their clans.  Somewhere between the learning of English and the trading of stories, Emori left the lessons to go and help Raven. 

Now just the two of them, it felt easy for Bellamy and Echo to become somewhat friends.  As their friends grew algae and tried to improve the coms system, Bellamy and Echo trained and planned for life back on the ground. 

Then somewhere along the line, Echo rolling her eyes at his jokes transformed into her smiling into his lips as he kissed her.

They’d not defined what they were, it was hard to when the days in space seemed endless and going back to the ground was nothing but a dream.  Telling the others had been weird; Murphy had made a comment about how thin the walls on the ring were, Emori had said she was happy for them, Harper and Monty had smiled in response, and Raven hadn’t said anything but had raised a brow at them.  They were an odd duo, but they made it work.

***

Echo’s mind was still whirling with the information that Clarke was alive.  She knew she had to tell Bellamy before any of the others, but she wasn’t sure how to broach the topic.  Years of killing and plotting had left her numb and sterile when it came to emotions other than anger and guilt.  She’d opened up to Bellamy in the past about working for Nia and then Roan, but this was completely different.

She looked over to Raven to see her in an in-depth conversation with Emori about one of the flying systems.  They often spent their evenings like this, as a group, since Murphy left.  Echo wasn’t going to admit it, but she missed his quips and jokes, he eased the tension on nights like this.

Instead of sitting among her friends, Echo removed herself from the group and went to Bellamy’s – their – room.  She looked around the mix of their belongings, his books and her weapons. 

What a match they made, she thought with a bitter smile.  They were all sharp edges and bared teeth clashing and scratching at each other until they reached their bleeding hearts, trying desperately to stitch each other back together.  Maybe they were just lonely, she mused. 

It was like the revelation that Clarke was alive had shone a light on her and Bellamy’s relationship and Echo could see that it wasn’t just cracked as she had thought, but transparent, never really there.  Things had always been different in peacetime, and they’d had six years of it.

 

Echo made her way over to her side of the bed and sat down.  A sigh escaped her lips involuntarily and she lay back onto the bed.  The ceiling of the ring was plain steel with large, ugly bolts to hold everything in place.  When she was younger, before Queen Nia had taken her from her family, her bedroom was hand decorated by her mother.  Echo let her eyes flutter closed and she tried to grasp at the wisps of memories of the intricate designs on the ceiling of her old bedroom.  She’d always found that they calmed her.  But now, staring up at the dull metal, she couldn’t begin to distract herself from the hollowness in her chest.

That was how Bellamy found her; staring up at the ceiling in silence.

 

“Echo?”  Bellamy said from the doorway.  She turned her head to him to see him giving her a worried once over.  _Some things would never change,_ she thought with a sad smile.  She tried to smile over at him, to convince him she was fine, but that would be a lie and they were supposed to trust each other now.

Bellamy, sensing her inner turmoil, made his way across the room and lay down beside her in the dim room.  The bed sagged under his added weight and she felt the heat of his leg close to hers.  Any other time, she would have felt comforted by the closeness, but now she just felt crowded and suffocated.

“Are you okay?”  He asked tentatively and Echo closed her eyes again.  Any other night, she would have reached across and brushed a stray curl from his face, but now everything felt so fragile she didn’t want to risk it.

“Echo please,” Bellamy whispered desperately and Echo’s eyes snapped open.  “Talk to me.”

His voice was pleading and Echo let out a breath.  She stared up at the metal roof again, willing the courage to get the words out.  If she said them, she knew it would be the end of whatever they were.  Over their time in space, their relationship had transformed into one of support and trust, but Echo had always known that Bellamy could never have given himself to her fully, his heart would always be with Clarke.

With each breath she took, it felt like her throat was closing up.  Echo slowly closed her eyes, trying to gain some control.  She was reminded of the winters in Azgeda where the air was so cold she felt it move down her throat until it reached her lungs.  Except she wasn’t in Azgeda, she was safe with Bellamy.  Bellamy, who carried all the guilt over every little thing, things that weren’t even his fault.  He needs to know, she told herself.  She cleared the ice from her throat and let the words escape quickly.

“It’s Clarke.”

Echo opened her eyes and looked at Bellamy, even in the dim light she could read him.  His expression was serious with a flash of what she’d come to recognise hurt.  It was the same look that crossed his face whenever anyone brought up Octavia, and she’d seen it a few times during their first few months in space when someone brought up Clarke.

They’d stopped talking about Clarke in Bellamy’s presence after he punched through an old air vent.  He’d tried to open up about her in the past, but he just never seemed to get the words out, not to Echo at least. 

“What about Clarke?”  Bellamy asked tensely, suddenly serious.  If Echo wasn’t careful this could blow up into an argument.   That had happened quite a few times, she reminded herself with a grimace.

“Clarke’s alive,” she said, looking across into Bellamy’s eyes, willing him to believe her. 

His frown grew deeper and he moved his head back on the pillow to see her face.  She nodded at him slowly, hoping he’d know she wasn’t lying.  His eyes danced across her face and Echo saw them shine in the light.  A smile broke across his features when he saw she was telling the truth and Echo felt a twinge in her chest at how young he looked. 

***

They lay in bed for hours that night talking.  Bellamy listened as Echo explained how she’d heard Clarke on the radio.  Echo watched Bellamy transition through shock, then happiness and then guilt.  He looked at her with a sad smile and Echo knew they had to come to an end, it felt natural.

“She needs you,” Echo said finally with a sad smile.

“Echo…” he started.  She cut his off with a finger to his lips.

“Bellamy,” she said softly.  “It’s Clarke.  I understand.”  Her voice was thick with emotion as she tried to swallow the lump in her throat.  Bellamy looked at her confused but she knew her mind was made up.  She stole one last kiss from his lips before she got up from the bed and walked out of the room.  

 

Everywhere he looked he could see traces of Echo, the pillows even smelled like her, but all Bellamy could think of was Clarke.  He knew he should feel bad for the way things ended with Echo after all the time they’d shared together but his head was spinning with the revelation that Clarke wasn’t dead.

Clarke was alive, on the ground.  He’d left her behind and she had survived.  Bellamy felt the familiar feeling of guilt settle itself in his stomach.  It had been years since he’d felt like this, but after just a few hours, it had brought everything back.  Bellamy sighed and stared up at the metal roof of the small room.

Bellamy had grown used to having trouble sleeping in space; his dreams were often plagued with the faces and voices of people he should have saved.  This was different though, his mind was whirling with millions of thoughts, all of Clarke.  _How was she?  Was she okay?  How did she survive?  Did she get to the bunker?_

The endless stream of questions brought back memories of years ago, it almost seemed like another lifetime.  When Clarke had left the camp after they brought down Mount Weather together.  For months he’d stayed up all night, wondering if she was okay, if she was even alive.  It was awful really, this feeling, endless questions with no way of getting answers.

This time was different though; he could get answer.  He had to go back to the ground.

 

* * *

 

 

 Bellamy was still feeling the aftershocks of landing on the ground again.  Even though Emori had piloted their smoothest landing to date, it was still weird walking on the ground again and feeling the familiar pull of the Earth’s gravity.  Each step felt heavier than it had in space, he felt sluggish and slow, but that might just have been his sense of urgency to find Clarke.

His internal mantra of _Clarke, Clarke, Clarke_ was so loud that he almost missed the snap of twigs in front of him.

“Put your hands up!”  Shouted a man and Bellamy suppressed the urge to roll his eyes.  They’d been on the ground all of two minutes and they were already back to the same old shit.

“We don’t mean any harm,” Bellamy replied when he found his voice.

The two figures continued to step forward with their weapons raised and Bellamy lifted his hands.  He opened his mouth to try to reason with them when he heard to familiar bangs.  Funny, he thought, he’d spent six years in a safe sanctuary, but the sound of a gun firing was still as familiar as it had been the day he left. 

The two guards fell to the floor.  He knew they were dead even from a few yards away.  He clenched his jaw, ready to take on whoever had killed them.  He was not prepared for the girl that stepped into the clearing.

“Bellamy?”  She asked as she stepped forwards.  Bellamy’s mind was whirling, trying to remember if he knew this girl.  She couldn’t be older than twelve.

“Clarke knew you would come,” she said as she stepped forwards again.  Even though Echo had told him she was alive, hearing it again still made his heart stutter.

“Where is she?”  He asked as he looked behind her.

“She’s in trouble,” the girl replied and grabbed his arm.  Bellamy looked around at the others, they all looked just as shocked as he was.  His eyes met Echo’s and she gave him a short nod.  He tore his gaze away from hers as the girl pulled him back towards the way she had come.

The walk to the rover was tense, Bellamy didn’t know where to begin to ask about how this girl knew him or Clarke.  When they reached the rover, she jumped straight into the driver’s seat and Bellamy raised a brow.  Reluctantly, he climbed in the passenger side and she started the engine.

Bellamy found it off-putting being in the passenger side, since he’d driven it more than anyone back when they were on the ground.  The stick shift was worse than he remembered and she struggled getting up the gears but they eventually got onto some sort of path that she seemed familiar with and the ride was smoother.

“I didn’t think you’d have a beard,” she said as they drove around a corner.  Bellamy had been looking at the trees, trying to see if there was anyone there but he snapped his vision over to her at this.

She glanced over at him quickly before starting an explanation of how Clarke found her when she was six and had basically raised her since then.  Bellamy listened with a small smile on his face as the girl, Madi she’d told him, recited them how they’d lived and about some of the stories she’d told her.  The affection in her voice was evident and Bellamy felt his heart pull when he realised how close this girl was to Clarke.  This young girl was all Clarke had, and Clarke was all she had, and now she was counting on him to save Clarke.

“We’re here,” she said as she turned the last corner into the grounder village.

The headlights washed over a crowd of people dressed in similar uniforms.  Eligius IV, he realised.  Among all the soldiers he saw a flash of blonde on the floor and his heart leapt into his mouth.  _Clarke,_ he realised.  His heart stuttered; she was surrounded by soldiers and was on the floor, Bellamy clenched his jaw, preparing himself.

As Madi slowed the rover, dozens of guns were pointed at them and Bellamy felt his throat go dry.  _Home, sweet home_ he thought bitterly as Madi put the handbrake on.  He saw her reach over for the door.

“Madi, no,” he said sternly.  She removed her hand from the door handle and looked down at her hands in her lap.

“I won’t let anything happen to Clarke, I promise.”  She looked up at him and she nodded.  Bellamy nodded back and started to get out of the rover.

***

“Two hundred and eighty-three lives for one?  She must be pretty important to you,” the leader of Eligius spoke.  Bellamy resisted the urge to scoff at her.  Important didn’t even begin to cover it.

Through the talk, Bellamy had kept his eyes trained on the leader, gauging her reactions.  But now, he looked down at Clarke.  Clarke, who he’d thought was dead for six years, who he’d mourned and tried to move on from. 

Here she was, in front of him alive and breathing.  He watched as she tried to lift herself up onto her arms before collapsing to the ground again.  Bellamy’s heart screamed at him to go to her, to pick her up, but guns were trained on him from all angles so he stayed where he was for the time being.

“She is,” he replied finally.  Clarke’s entire body exhaled with relief as she looked up at him.  Tears flowed freely down her cheeks and Bellamy could feel his eyes sting as hot tears welled in his eyes.

Clarke was alive, and she was within arm’s reach for the first time in six years and seven days.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this!
> 
> As always, I'm always taking prompts on [tumblr](https://www.blueshirtbell.tumblr.com)! I'm also on [twitter](https://.twitter.com/blueshirtbell) now too! Come chat to me if you want!


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